UMaine goal: Raise $150M Percentage dip in state aid cited

ORONO – The University of Maine is seeking permission to conduct its most ambitious fundraising campaign ever – a six-year, $150 million nationwide initiative that would support scholarships, professorships and facilities improvements, among other things.

The University of Maine System board of trustees will consider the flagship campus’s request at a regularly scheduled meeting Monday, Dec. 5, in Bangor.

The campaign, scheduled to be launched Jan. 1, could be one of the largest ever undertaken in the state. Its goal is to raise:

. $40 million for endowed undergraduate scholarships and graduate student fellowships.

. $60 million for endowed chairs and professorships.

. $40 million for capital improvements for facilities such as Fogler Library and the Maine Center for the Arts, as well as other buildings including the Memorial Gym Field House.

. $10 million to promote and enhance specific programs throughout the university.

“This will take UMaine to the next level and guarantee that we can compete with the best universities in the country,” university President Robert Kennedy said Friday.

The money will be used “across the board in trying to keep UMaine at its [present] level and even beyond in terms of national recognition and service to the state,” he said.

In addition to providing “opportunities for research, discovery, innovation and economic development,” the infusion of funds will “allow us to recruit and retain high-quality students and faculty and expand and improve the quality and delivery of our programs all across the university.”

He added that the campaign also would help provide the facilities and personnel to enhance the university’s cultural events and athletic programs.

Noting the declining percentage of state funding for higher education, Kennedy said, “It’s never been more critical that we secure additional public and private support for the university.”

This year, for the first time in the state’s history, tuition and fees for students in the University of Maine System are paying a larger percentage of the costs for higher education than the state pays. State appropriations have declined over the years, hitting 39.9 percent of the total UMS budget this year. Tuition and fees rose to 40.4 percent of the total $432.1 million UMS budget this fall.

The University of Maine is long overdue for a comprehensive fundraising campaign, according to officials, who said the last one was more than a decade ago.

“It’s about time we did this,” said UMaine alumnus H. Allen Fernald of Rockport, who chairs the initial planning committee that he said would spend the next year deciding “how to reach out to people and build a national campaign.”

The group will work with the campus’s primary fundraising entities – the University of Maine Foundation, the University of Maine Alumni Association and the University of Maine Development Office – to create a network of alumni and supporters who will reach out to potential donors in a number of ways, including personal visits and on- and off-campus events.

Officials are optimistic that the $150 million goal will be reached and even exceeded within the next six years. Research conducted before the decision to launch the campaign indicated overwhelming support. In addition, the University of Maine Development Office has identified an undisclosed number of potential donors at the $1 million level and above.

“So many people recognize the importance of the university and higher education to the state of Maine and to future generations,” said Kennedy. In addition to alumni, “we have so many people who haven’t gone to UMaine but who recognize what it means to the future of the state and our national and global impact.”

Donna Thornton, interim president of the University of Maine Alumni Association, said there are 90,000 alumni worldwide and that her group would concentrate on finding those “who are interested in helping us become more visible in an area.”

Amos Orcutt, president and chief executive officer of the University of Maine Foundation, said the university has 5,000 “friends” who aren’t alumni but who have given over the years. “We see this as a great opportunity for alumni and other supporters to continue showing their confidence in the future of UMaine,” he said.